


Learn the Ropes

by redrobinfection (ChristmasRivers)



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Acrobatics, Aerial silks, Brotherly Bonding, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Multimedia, hints of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 19:39:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13841625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChristmasRivers/pseuds/redrobinfection
Summary: Dick talks Jason into coming down to the cave for some cross-training and lighthearted “bonding time” in the form of aerial silks acrobatics. But it’s one thing for Circus Boy to go from swinging on a trapeze to swinging around Gotham to swinging in the silks - how about Jason? Can you imagine: the Red Hood, notorious crime boss and violent vigilante, twisting gracefully in delicate strands of fabric? Yeah, Jason can’t either. This will be interesting, to say the least.





	Learn the Ropes

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve included links to videos (or images) in the text to give readers a better idea what each of these moves looks like; you can also view a full list of the moves and the url to each in the end notes. Enjoy!

"Yup! Just like that, Jay. Nice job!"

"Shut the fuck up! I know how to climb a damn rope. Don't patronize me!"

"Yep, the two basic climbs are just like like climbing a rope, nice catch!"[[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg8enhcDfjA)][[2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqGs3hmK82g%20)]

Jason scowled down as Dick beamed up at him where he was perched on a long lengths of fabric hanging down from the cave's reinforced ceiling. The older man went on, his cheery, patronizing tone undiminished by the death glare Jason bore through his head. Why did he agree to do this again?

"But these definitely aren't ropes. Just wait until you get to inversion climbs, that's where the real fun begins!"[[3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1D1ALik3Wg)]

Jason turned his scowl back to the brilliantly scarlet fabric between his hands and slowly lowered himself, hand over hand, back to ground level.

"But that's a challenge for next time. For today, the next thing I'll show you on the silks is how to invert using a slip knot. You remember how to tie a slip knot, correct?"

Jason didn't even bother to answer this time. Basic knots were part of Bat 101, _Dickhead_ , of course he knew the flipping _slip knot_. [[4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDUBxji0st4%20)]

Dick laughed lightly. "Of course you do. But," Dick deftly weaved his hand into the blue silk beside him and tied a huge knot with a simple twist and pull. "Have you ever done it on a scale where the knot is nearly as big as your head?"

Jason huffed a long-suffering sigh and twisted his arm up into his silk, poorly mimicking the motions Dick had made to tie his knot. While he did, he wondered all over again how he got dragged into this bullsh-

"Not quite, Jay. It's just a bigger version of the one B drilled into us. Try to think of your arm doing what your fingers would."

"So why isn't the baby brat doing this with you instead of me? Or tiny Timmy?" Jason countered, turning his back to Dick so that his sad attempts at a knot were hidden by his body. Dick circled around him, undeterred, and answered absentmindedly as he contemplated Jason's knotwork.

"Damian worked with me on the silks last week. And Tim is already well into the level two skill set; we started learning silks techniques together as a bonding activity back when he was still Robin. Oh, nope, but that was really close. Try again."

Jason wanted to strangle Dick with the loops of fabric, instead he looped the fabric over his wrist again and tried as hard as he could to picture a thread of yarn in his hands instead.

"Okay, but why do any of this at all? And what made you think I'd want in on this?"

Dick took the bait and turned his attention away from the silk and onto Jason. "It's great cross training for what we do, you know? Swinging from things, going up and down ropes; this is a fun way to build up the strength and fine tune the control we need to do all that. Oh, wow, that's it. Nice job, Little Wing! You picked that up way faster than I did!"

Jason tried not to feel a surge of pride at the praise, failed, and covered his slip with a brusque shrug. He didn't admit he'd had plenty of practice tying slip knots from way back, back before his Robin days, back when he'd sit with old Mrs. McKinnon from across the hall in his mother's - _Catherine's_ \- old building, eating the cookies the kind elderly lady would occasionally bake for him while he helped her tie knots and wrap skeins of knitting yarn that her arthritic fingers just couldn't manage anymore.

"You tied it nice and high, too. Perfect! We're going to need it high for the next set of skills," Dick explained. He gave Jason a shit eating grin before he grabbed the red silk and deftly flipped himself up into sling created by the two ends of the silk that were held together by the knot [[5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFgWj0_OM-Y%20)]. After that Jason lost track as first Dick rolled over, tilted back, split his legs into a V around the two strands, wove each leg up into one strand, pulled himself up and through, and then fell forward and twisted so he ended upside down but with one leg hooked over both strands and the other hanging down gracefully.

"Uhhh…"

Dick laughed out loud. "Chill. We'll take it one step at a time; I'll walk you through each one."

Jason shook his head and looked up at the knot as Dick flipped upright and slipped down to the floor. "Do I have to? I mean any of this." Jason glanced away from Dick's questioning gaze. "Why do you wanna do any of this with me?" he muttered.

"Little wing…" Dick sighed and scrubbed a hand through his long, wavy hair. "This is bonding. We're bonding. Like sparring but…" Dick glanced away. "You know?"

Yeah. He knew. Jason sighed and stared off at the dark screens of the Batcomputer. Dick shuffled that tiny bit closer and murmured a quiet, uncertain "Jay?"

It took everything Jason had not to instinctively jump away from the invasion of his space.

It wasn't personal. None of it; not the feeling that he wanted to flinch away from Dick's space nor his reluctance to do stupid silly stuff with Dick in the name of bonding.

It was just instinct to keep his distance from anyone and everyone. He'd been hurt too many times to trust. He'd hurt too many people to be trusted. It just didn't feel like anyone should be doing anything so fun or as benign as aerial silks with someone like him. It didn't feel like anyone should really want to get close enough to share something so… _normal_ with him.

"Jason?"

"Ugh. Fine, let's just get on with it."

Dick looked uncertain, but gave a weak grin as Jason met his eyes and nodded toward the silk. "Okay, first, reach up above the knot and wrap one hand into each silk…"

It took Jason numerous tries before he finally managed to flip himself up into the knot and no small amount of ungraceful wiggling before he managed to turn himself over to sit up on the knot. He counted himself lucky he hadn't tipped forward halfway through and landed smack on his face. This stuff was trickier than it looked.

"Awesome, okay, now you're going to slip down into your 'backpack' - yep, just slide your butt forward until the silks are in your armpits and the knot is between your shoulder blades - yeah! Just like that. Now you're going to rock back - being sure to keep your legs spread to the outside of the silks - and - Yeah! Exactly! You're a natural at this, Jay!" [[6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhqRSOYAPnE%20)]

Jason resisted the urge to scoff as the knot dug into the middle of his back and the blood rushed to his head. He pushed at the taught fabric above his hips and wiggled himself around until the slip knot slid a little further down his back.

"So this is your straddle back or straddle V position - straddle since you're straddling the silks with your legs," Dick explained. "As long as you keep your legs spread and on the outside of the silks, you are stable and can let go."

Jason gingerly released his hold and let his arms drop like dead fish. It wasn't an entirely comfortable position, but it wasn't bad either.

"Nice. Okay, now you're going to crochet your legs into each silk."

"Come again?"

Dick laughed. Slowly, he walked Jason through wrapping his legs up into the silks - more like rigid poles now than 'silk' now that they were under tension - and helped him pull his feet down to his butt to hook the silks in his knees - tougher than it sounds when you have thighs as thick as his. Pulling himself upright so that he was sitting in the loops now wrapped around each thigh went easily enough, thankfully. He tried to find a comfortable position in the tight wraps as Dick chattered on. [[7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6N82oRzBRE%20)]

"Awesome! That is your double thigh lock. Now, as soon as you're ready, pick a side - which side doesn't matter - and grab that silk with both hands."

Jason complied and trembled as he struggled to avoid falling forward in the asymmetrical, unbalanced position.

"Okay, now, you're going to keep a hold of that silk and let yourself tip forward. The leg on the side you're holding needs to bend and stay as bent as possible and this will drop you into your gazelle position. You can let go of the silk as soon as you've tipped past vertical or you can hold on until you're upside down if that feels more comfortable."

Jason blinked. "What? No! I'm gonna hit my damn face on the floor if I go forward!"

Dick made soothing gestures with both hands. "I swear, Jay, you're plenty high, you won't smack your face even if you do mess up, and you're not going to mess up, we're going to take this nice and slow."

Jason glared for a long moment then sighed. "Fine. Talk me through that again. SLOWER." [[8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpWLnuVeeqs%20)]

"Here, okay, you're going to go right side? Go ahead and bend your right knee as much as you can."

"Right now?"

"Yep. Okay, good. Now keep a good grip on the silk, keep bending that knee, and tip forward. It will feel a little like you're swing down around a pole and- that's it, you've got it, keep going and-"

All at once Jason lost his grip and fell down toward the floor, but heaven help him, he kept that damn leg bent, and sure enough his body swung around the silk of it's own accord and when everything stopped moving he was back upside down with one leg hooked and the other off hanging around somewhere. His arms hung limply as he tried to ride out the shock.

"Oh my god, Jay, that was great! Just straighten out your leg" - Jason followed the directions without thinking, too stunned to put up a stubborn front - "point that foot - and straighten your arms - no you can let them hang, just straighten them a bit - Perfect! Got it on the first try, man!"

"Shut up, you bossy butt," Jason gasped, recovering a bit. You'd think swinging from grapple lines and flipping all over the city for years would make something like this easy, but that had felt _weird_. Good weird, but weird.

"You know you love this butt," Dick bantered back with a wink.

"Shut up, you dick."

"That's my name, don't wear it out. Okay, go ahead and unhook your leg, let it fall back into the position you sta- yep, straddle back, just like that, now just go ahead and sit up. Yep, right into backpack again and then you can grab the silks above your head and come down."

Jason jumped down to the mat and resisted the urge to sink the floor and sit for a bit. Dick tugged on the ends of the knot to pull it out then moved over to his own royal blue silk hanging a few feet away.

"Okay, so go ahead and tie another slip knot, this one a lot lower; knee height or so," Dick instructed.

Once they had both tied their knots, they stepped up into the knots, balancing in between the two strands. First Dick had them turn to face one silk, lean forward into that silk while pushing on the silk behind them with one foot - effectively wedging them between both strands - and let go. [[9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBFBhpJrOdY%20)]

"So that's your front balance. You're good, Jay, you can let go; just don't let up pushing yourself into that front silk."

Jason didn't let go. He didn't like that one at all. He wasn't really liking any of this so far very much at all.

Next Dick had them lean back onto the silk behind them, brace one foot against the front silk, and then let go, which, actually, felt kind of cool. [[10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs2iBHUaiLg%20)]

"So that's your standing hammock balance" - Jason didn't mind this one so much - "which is pretty easy, but later I'll show you the seated balance - that's where the fun really starts," Dick explained, winking again. Jason suppressed the urge to punch Dick in his smug face and kept his declaration of discontent to a roll of his eyes and a groan.

"Okay, for this last thing we're gonna do in the low slip knot go ahead and center yourself between the silks and face forward - like we started out when we first stepped into the knot."

Jason sighed but complied.

"Okay, now reach up around the front of the silk - like this - and grip each silk as high as you can, then let your shoulders roll to the front of the silks. Yeah, just like that," Dick explained while demonstrating. He waited until Jason was in position then grinned.

"Now. Let the silks slip in your hands until your hips sink down towards the floor. Yes! Okay now hold that position - lift one leg like this and bend it - yeah, just like that - nice! I didn't even need to remind you to point your toe."

Jason could feel his back and shoulders protesting against the unfamiliar position but if he looked anything how Dick looked like at the moment, then this wasn't such a bad move.

"Very nice. You have good lines," Dick praised with a genuine smile. Jason let himself feel a little bit of pride this time and let it show with a quiet grin. He felt like the figurehead on the bow of an old fashioned sailing ship, a proud Adonis, every muscle on display. This wasn't so bad. [[11](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e7/e9/ba/e7e9baa1ea1120a4470e9cc3a0fdc17a--aerial-yoga-aerial-dance.jpg)]

"This is the graceful butterfly position."

Jason choked and let go as if the silks had suddenly caught fire. He fell forward onto the mat in a heap of tangled limbs.

"Oops. Best way to come out of that is to pull yourself up again back to neutr-"

"Fuck you," Jason coughed out, rolling over onto his back. _A graceful butterfly? Stop fucking with me, man_. Dick jumped down from his knot and stepped over, looking mildly confused.

"Okay, well, if you're ready we'll move on to the next move," Dick suggested uncertainly.

Jason grumbled under his breath disgruntledly. "As long as it's a fucking sight manlier, you dickhead."

Dick's eyebrows rose. "Manlier? Well actually…" He tapped a finger to his chin thoughtfully then brightened. "Yeah! I've got just the thing!" He offered a hand to help him up that Jason slapped away with a snarl. Once they were in position again beside their respective silks, Dick continued.

"Next we'll try out a single foot lock. A lot of the stuff you can do standing in a slipknot you can also do in a single foot lock - like butterfly!" - Jason kept his glare to a dim simmer but Dick cleared his throat uncomfortably and hurried on in any case - "Right. So, uhh, the lock we're going to try today is the figure-eight lock."

It started out a lot like the standard climb, wrapping one leg around the silk from the outside. "Okay, and grab the live end - yeah, the part above your foot - and pull up to give yourself a little slack." Dick squinted over at Jason from where he was demonstrating on his own silk. "Yeah that's enough. Now you're going to use one hand on the silk to guide that slack into a loop around the outside of your foo- close, close, but you want it around the outside." Dick stepped out of his silk and came over to help. "No, the outside, Jaybird, that's the inside" - Jason growled, half at the stubborn tangle he'd created around his foot and half at Dick - "Other way. Around the- Yep, just like that!"

Jason dropped his head onto the arm gripping the silk and sighed, waiting for the next instructions. Dick looked at him expectantly and gestured impatiently toward the silk. Jason shook his head and shrugged. "What?" he snapped in annoyance.

"Step up into it already!" Dick laughed.

"Well you gotta fucking tell me that, Dickhead, I dunno what comes next!" [[12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5iU6ugIla4%20)]

"Okay, okay, easy, Jaybird," Dick soothed, still grinning as if he thought Jason was just to messing around to make him laugh. Jason wanted to punch him in his smug face. "Step up so that your weight is resting in the foot lock. Yes, just like that."

"Fucking pinches," Jason complained. The loops around his foot felt like a vise, pinching skin and twinging the bones.

"Yeah, that's normal. Eventually you'll build up callouses and get used to it."

"Sure," Jason deadpanned. "So what's next?" _Please, let's get this over with_.

"Okay, now split the silks and slip between them like you did in the low slip knot - if it's hard to find the gap, you can step down and separate them and then step up int- Okay, good! Now, turn to the opposite side silk."

Jason turned his head toward Dick with a long-suffering expression. "The what?"

"So the foot you locked is your same side silk - so in this case, you locked your right foot, so as long as you didn't twist the silk before stepping up… nope, you're good - that silk that you're holding is your same side silk. Turn toward the other one, the one on your left, so that you are facing it."

Jason complied, wincing as the pressure on his locked foot increased.

"Okay. Good," Dick continued. "Now, similar to how you leaned into the silk behind you for standing balance, you are going to lean your bottom half into the back silk, leaning forward from the hips as you do so, so that the silk essentially wedges itself down the center of your ass - the deeper the wedgie the more stable you'll be."

Jason paused mid-pose and wobbled. "Did you just fucking tell me to give myself a wedgie?"

Dick smiled. "Kind of, but only with the silk," he explained. Jason narrowed his eyes. "Trust me, Jay."

Jason grumbled under his breath but wiggled around until the silk behind him was firmly wedged between both butt-cheeks. He gripped desperately at the silk in front of him to keep his balance in the awkward position. This didn't feel "manly" or "cool" at all.

"Okay, now slide you hands further down on the silk until they're level with your face. That'll allow you to push out on that silk and firmly wedge yourself between them. Yes! Right there. Don't budge an inch."

Jason froze and groaned. To top it all off this position was incredibly uncomfortable. Dick approached and gently pushed at the back of his head. Jason growled but allowed Dick to manhandle his head down in-line with his spine. "Okay, and now I'm going to guide your free leg up behind y- no, just let me guide it, J-"

"I didn't say you could fucking touch me, Dickface."

"Language. It's only for a sec. Besides you're already in position, see, not so bad, I won't touch you again."

Jason blinked and tried to take stock of his body and the strange position into which Dick had contorted it. "Uhhhh…so…. what is this supposed to feel like. Or look like?"

For the first time all afternoon there was utter silence. He sneaked a glance upward. "Uhhhh? Dick?"

"Put your head back down! I just needed to grab my phone to snap a pic. You want to feel that your arms, head, spine and free leg are all in alignment and, preferably, level with the ground. It should tug at your locked leg's hamstring a bit."

"Okay, yeah, I can definitely feel a tug but how am I supposed to know when my leg and back and all that are lev- WAIT, picture?! Who the fuck said you could take pictures of any of this? Gimme that phone, you dick!" Jason pulled himself upright and dove toward the phone so quickly that he almost ate dirt when he fell out of the lock.

"Careful! You can really twist your knee up bad falling through a lock the wrong way," Dick cautioned. He handed over the phone without hassle, however, and smiled as he explained, "I wanted to catch a pic of you because it's hard to visualize what that last one looks like while you're doing it and I wanted you to see yourself doing the move so you'll believe me when I tell you that you're a natural."

Jason stared at the picture. It actually looked… kinda sweet. His arms and butt had pushed the silks apart into a pointed oval and his free leg had shot out behind to create a clean, strong line from hand to toe. He didn't remember trying to point his toes, but apparently he had. There was something oddly familiar about the shape… [[13](https://78.media.tumblr.com/a014c90189248d969d3bc10520d709e1/tumblr_inline_p4xrcuAg0K1tpj153_500.jpg)] 

"That move is called bow and arrow - the silk is the bow and you, the arrow."

Jason grinned quietly, still studying the photograph. "Roy will like that."

"Yeah he will!" Dick agreed with an answering grin.

Jason stared at the photo for few seconds longer - grinning like a damn fool - then looked up and cleared his throat.

"Well. Yeah. That was pretty cool. But ya know, it's already like 5:12 and I had some shit I wanted to do before getting ready for patrol" - there was no way in hell Jason would ever admit he meant a nap and a snack, like Dick wouldn't coo at him as if he were a toddler and ask him to stay at the manor for dinner and cuddles and shit - "so I think I'm gonna take off-"

"Wait. One last thing, I swear and then we'll be done," Dick pleaded, for the first time all afternoon dropping his untouchably upbeat manner to expose his anxious need to form a connection underneath. Jason hesitated.

"….Fine. One last thing and then I _am_ leaving."

"Perfect!" Dick exclaimed, beaming as if his facade had never slipped. "You're gonna love this one. A crowd favorite. Tim and Dami actually _agree_ to like this one, if you can believe that."

"Wow. Okay, hit me with it. What do I do?"

"Okay, I need to make one more slip knot, this one as high as you think you can flip into..."

Jason took that as a challenge and tied the highest knot he possibly could. Dick shook his head and swore Jason would never be able to fit his hands above the knot to get enough grip and that there were better ways to achieve a higher knot. After a few ridiculous attempts to get into it that ended in both of them laughing out loud - Jason finally admitted failure and tied a knot a tad bit lower.

Dick didn't think Jason could get into the second knot either, until he did, and then Jason flaunted his victory up until the moment Dick climbed to the top of the blue silk and somehow tied a slip knot in the air using his shoulders and his feet that ended up at a level with Jason's head. Dick stuck out his tongue, Jason told him to fuck off, but he could stop the smile as he said it and Dick laughed.

"Okay. So now that we're in the knot, you think you remember how to get into double thigh lock," Dick asked, looking down on Jason from his high seat in the blue silk.

"The backpack thingy to the upside V thing to crochet to stupid hook knee shit to double thigh lock… right," Jason recited as he slid down to the backpack position, silks under his armpits and the knot between his shoulder blades. His toes hovered an inch or so off the ground.

"Exactly! Now let's see you _do_ it," Dick challenged.

"You can bet your pretty ass I can still do it," Jason shot back at him, swinging back into his straddle back, then carefully crocheting his legs into each silk.

"Awww, you think my ass is pretty?"

"Prettier than your face, Dickface," Jason bantered back as he pulled himself upright into the double thigh lock.

"Ouch!" Dick laughed out loud. He fluidly slipped through the progression until he also sat in a double thigh lock high above Jason.

"Okay, now from double thigh lock, you're going to reach up around the front of the silk in a high grip, like we did when setting up for butterfly-"

"I swear t' god, Dick, if this is another butterfl-"

"-or yeah, you can reach up high and then slide your hands to the front like that - And no, this isn't another butterfly, this better. This is your first official drop."

" 'Better' you say…"

Dick laughed again, sinking down so that his back arched and the loops slid from around the meat of his thighs and up his legs into the creases between his legs and his groin, like some kind of harness.

"It is! Okay, now let yourself sink down like I have. Yep, and just like when we did butterfly, let your shoulders pop to the front side of the silks and let the silk slide through your hands. Good. Yeah, it's easier if you let the locks on your thighs slide up closer to your body - it's just more comfortable that way," Dick explained. Jason complied warily.

"Perfect! Now listen very carefully. Straighten your legs out and spread them a little - yeah, just like that - okay, now in a second you are going to fall forward like you did for the transition from double thigh lock to gazelle, but this time you're going to let go of the silks entirely."

"S-say what now?"

Dick shook his head. "I swear you're not going to fall. One-hundred percent certain" - Jason squinted doubtfully - "No, just listen: you're not even going to lean forward; you're simply going to let go, at which point you're going to straighten your arms out to either side, keep your legs straight, and your core engaged."

Jason opened his mouth to express doubt, but Dick frowned and spoke on. "Really, even if you go limp noodle everywhere else, so long as you keep your arms out to other side that will keep your shoulders from passing through the silks and that will keep you in backpack at the end. There is literally no way for you to fall on your head halfway through so long as you tied your knot high enough and, trust me, you got that knot plenty high," Dick finished in a dry, amused tone.

Jason giggled a tad hysterically then glanced down at the floor then back up at Dick. "Well?"

"Well what?" Dick echoed back.

"Aren't you going to show me first?"

Dick shook his head seriously. "No, this is something you need to feel before you see it. You don't need me do it first to know it will work. Once you let go all you have to do is roll with it; gravity and the silk will do all the work. Simple mechanics. Just like when we swing around Gotham, trust your anchor and line to hold you and don't fight the arc - fly through it." Dick paused to smile. "You can do this."

Jason blew out a huge sigh. He hesitated. "Dick…"

"Do it."

"But-"

"Do it, Jay."

"Auggh, fine, fine! Gimme a sec you pushy asshole."

What had Dickiebird gotten him into this time? Jason wondered, blowing out another steadying breath. His arms trembled as he quickly reviewed the instructions. "Arms out, arms out, arms out, let go and arms out," he muttered under his breath, bracing himself. What was the worst that could happen, he supposed - faceplant on the mat, fall out in a heap? What could be worse than any of the crap he'd already been through? "Okay…" he murmured then abruptly let go.

"…"

He blinked. It had happened in an instant; the world had turned upside down and right-side up a stomach swooping sweep and now he hung from the silk in his backpack position, toes barely brushing the floor [[14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-3d0rUXKBI%20)]. Dick whooped above him and Jason barely looked up in time to see Dick repeat the move, flipping forward around the silk in a single graceful movement. It was like doing a front flip with your entire body extended out like a star, a maneuver and a feeling that should never be possible.

"…whoa," Jason breathed, catching his breath.

Dick laughed out loud. "I know right! The first time is always surprising. That is called the Superman dive."

Jason snorted. "Of course it is, you damn fanboy!" He rolled his eyes, but grinned up at Dick in elation. The adrenaline and the endorphins were finally catching up to him so he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"I didn't name it," Dick defended, "but it's fun right? The drops are everyone's favorites - Damian is _obsessed_ with them."

"Can we do it again?"

Dick beamed. "Hell yeah!"

"Language, Dickie."

"Race you, Jaybird!"

They did the drop again, releasing at the same moment and laughing as if they were little kids again - kids who had just discovered the joy of jumping in puddles or the rush of jumping off a swingset. Jason immediately went on for a third while Dick swung himself up to sit on his knot and watch. After his fourth drop, Jason went back up into double thigh lock and paused.

"So to drop into gazelle I…"

"Pick a side and grab that silk. Pull yourself forward and toward that side and let yourself drop, being sure to hook that leg - keeping the knee bent - all the way down. As soon as you clear the silks you can let go, just make sure to keep that leg hooked."

Jason smoothly pulled himself forward toward the right silk, bending his right knee tightly. He whizzed around the silk and fell right into the gazelle position, as promised, and his arms fell into the correct position without even trying.

"Wow! Perfect, Jason! I wish I had my phone so I could show you. You have great lines. Total natural."

Jason sat up, passing through the backpack before dropping down to the mats. He shook out his arms and legs, still buzzing from the adrenaline of mastering something new and exciting.

Dick followed, climbing down from his perch and undoing the knot as he descended. They stood there for a moment, grinning at each other and catching their breaths before Dick's grin faded and his expression turned sheepish. He scrubbed at he back of his head.

"Well, that's the intro. Sorry it took a little longer than I said it would, but I hope you had some fun, at least. I uh…" Dick looked away, glancing up the stairs. "I know you said you had something to go do, so…"

Jason shrugged. He reached a hand over his head to stretch one triceps and tried to play it cool. "Well, I mean, we should probably stretch out before we call it quits, so…"

Dick glanced back hopefully and, under the weight of that puppy dog stare, Jason caved. "Plus, I mean, you showed me a 'Superman' drop, so if there's anything Wonder Woman related, then…"

Dick's answering grin lit up his expression like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. "Well, there _is_ the Wonder Woman grip for entering arabesque…"

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who aren't familiar with it, aerial silks is an art/sport that involves climbing, inverting, locking, posing and "diving" on a long length of high strength fabric (silk) that is tied at it's midpoint to a swivel mounted at least 10 feet over the ground. This gives you two ends to work with; many moves involve using the two strands separate from each other and some involve using both strands held together as a single "rope".
> 
> I like to think of it as a cross between trapeze, rope climbing, gymnastics and ballet. It's strength-intensive and requires incredible control and grace, so I imagine it would be fun, useful cross-training for swinging around buildings and fighting Bat-style ;3
> 
> If you missed them in the text, here are the videos/images for each of the moves Dick teaches Jason:
> 
> [1] Basic climb - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg8enhcDfjA>  
> [2] Russian Climb - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqGs3hmK82g>  
> (Bonus - the rope version of each of those [shown to us by Jason, no less ;)] - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD0uO7JGdZU>)  
> ([3] One of those “inverted climbs” Dick mentioned they’d try later ;) - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1D1ALik3Wg>)  
> [4] Tie a slip knot - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDUBxji0st4>  
> [5] Pull-over entry - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFgWj0_OM-Y>  
> [6] Straddle Back - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhqRSOYAPnE>  
> [7] Double Thigh Lock - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6N82oRzBRE>  
> [8] Thigh Lock to Gazelle - [ [9] Front Balance - ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpWLnuVeeqs)<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBFBhpJrOdY>  
> [10] Hammock Balance - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs2iBHUaiLg>  
> [11] Butterfly [image] - <https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e7/e9/ba/e7e9baa1ea1120a4470e9cc3a0fdc17a--aerial-yoga-aerial-dance.jpg>  
> [12] Figure 8 Footlock - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5iU6ugIla4>  
> [13] Basic Bow and Arrow [image] - <https://78.media.tumblr.com/a014c90189248d969d3bc10520d709e1/tumblr_inline_p4xrcuAg0K1tpj153_500.jpg>  
> [14] “Superman” Dive - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-3d0rUXKBI>
> 
> And here is a bonus: a kickass interpretation of the “butterfly” pose I dug up during research (many, MANY props to this person and their pinterest) - <https://i.pinimg.com/564x/58/9f/e7/589fe7cb84a068827a69628caa71fdd1--butterfly-aerial-yoga.jpg> (source: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/susansim64/aerial-yoga/)
> 
> My DCU tumblr sideblog is redrobinfection. Thanks for reading!


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